This week first graders used some symbols of fall to create their own four-beat rhythm patterns. Cards with either a leaf or a pumpkin were arranged in groups of four to make a rhythm "sentence." We recited the sentence together--for example, pumpkin-leaf-pumpkin-leaf--and then played the rhythm on instruments, with the word "pumpkin" getting two taps and "leaf" getting just one. After practicing with large magnetic images on the white board, pairs of children got their own packs of cards to compose their own rhythms. When they are second graders, these children will do this activity again--only with actual quarter and eighth notes.
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For the past year I have been experimenting with a new curriculum that uses bucket drumming as a way to teach music concepts. This was piloted last spring in the fourth grade, and I expanded it this fall to third grade as well. We learn that striking different parts of the bucket creates lower or higher sounds, and use that knowledge to create a variety of interesting rhythmic patterns. We then play these patterns to a wide range of recorded music. In the video below, these fourth graders are playing rhythms based on the names of Harry Potter characters to a recording of "Lion Sleeps Tonight." Thanks go to Miller's and Lenny's delis, Goldberg's Bagels, and Suburban House, who donated used pickle buckets for this project.
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Sara R. FuldI have been teaching lower school music at KSDS since the fall of 2004. I received a BA and MAT from Goucher College and have been certified by the State of Maryland to teach both Elementary Education and Music K-12. When I'm not teaching, you might see me running up Greenetree Road, biking through Stevenson, and sitting in the stands at Ravens and O's games. Archives
April 2023
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